Socioeconomic Determinants of Childhood Obesity in India: An Empirical Study Using NFHS-5

Sayantan Marik; Debaprasad Sarkar

doi:10.36948/ijfmr.2025.v07i04.50674

Socioeconomic Determinants of Childhood Obesity in India: An Empirical Study Using NFHS-5

Author(s)	Sayantan Marik, Dr. Debaprasad Sarkar
Country	India
Abstract	Introduction: Good health is considered the most important wealth a human can have. But nowadays, due to the transitional changes in the economy, changing job roles, and food habits, the majority of the world's population is leaning towards an idle, sedentary lifestyle. Obesity is a health condition characterized by excessive accumulation of fat, especially in the lower abdomen area, with respect to the specific age and gender of an individual. Objective: The current study aims to find socioeconomic correlates of childhood obesity in India. Data: This study uses data from the 5th cycle National Family Health Survey (2019-2021) conducted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). For analysis, ‘Children Recode File’ (IAKR7EFL) is utilized in STATA format. After omitting the missing entries from every variable used in the model, a total of 582 children are considered for obesity analysis. Methods: Ordered Logit Regression is run, accounting for three categories of obesity: non-obese, mildly obese, and severely obese. Odds ratios are estimated to check the probability of the occurrence of childhood obesity. Marginal effects are then calculated to get the incidence of category-specific obesity. Result and Discussion: Haemoglobin level of mothers has a slightly unfavourable effect on obesity, the marginal effect of that variable is positive in the non-obese category but is negative in mild obesity and severe obesity. Both Hindu and Muslim households have unfavourable but significant effects on obesity. Receiving PNC turns out to be an unfavorable variable in occurring obesity. Moving from medium birth order to low birth order decreases the possibility of obesity. Both very low and medium birth intervals cause the incidence of childhood obesity. Proper and sufficient breastfeeding can cut down the probability of obesity in children. Lastly, low antenatal care accounts for a lower possibility of children being obese. Thus, the reasonable and permissible effort from the public authority for such controllable causes can be the way forward towards the reduction of obesity in the future generation of the country.
Keywords	Childhood Obesity, Sedentary Lifestyle, Severely Obese
Field	Sociology > Economics
Published In	Volume 7, Issue 4, July-August 2025
Published On	2025-07-09
DOI	https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2025.v07i04.50674
Short DOI	https://doi.org/g9s9qj

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Socioeconomic Determinants of Childhood Obesity in India: An Empirical Study Using NFHS-5

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